Been Here All Along
by PositiveOutcomesOnly
Summary: Troy finds out Sharpay's father is in the army, so he wants to do a surprise for Sharpay. But when he gets to spend more time with her because of a project, things start changing. Rated M.
1. The Show

Been Here All Along 

Chapter One – The Show 

Troy woke up to the sound of his alarm clock and rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe the sleep out of his face, which was an impossible thing to do. He always tried to do this, but it never worked. He just sat up, eyes closed, and went into the bathroom. He splashed cold water on his face and his eyes immediately flashed opened.

Troy managed to make his way to the kitchen, where his dad was putting things on the table and his mother was feeding his 13 months old sister. Troy smiled at that and sat down, grabbing a slice of bread.

After breakfast, Troy got dressed and went to his dad's car to wait for him. Jack Bolton was never late, he always got earlier in school because he was a teacher, he was never late. And besides, before school started he and Troy could play a little one on one.

Only this morning, when Jack and Troy got in school, the two couldn't play, because Jack had a meeting with Mr. Matsui. Yeah, that early in the morning. So Troy was left alone to wander in the halls of East High he knew all too well. He turned on his heel and started heading to his favorite place to thing, the Science Gardens, when a soft, beautiful voice coming from inside a room stopped him. He leaned forward on the door, but he couldn't see the figure from where he was standing, all he heard was her voice.

"_I don't know what to say _  
_When I hear you're away _  
_I just know that I miss you_"

He could hear the person was playing a classic guitar also, and the melody was soft. It was beautiful, he could hear the girl was singing it with all her heart, something he had never heard someone do in school. People interested in singing would just sing the song chosen by Ms. Darbus without putting their heart and soul into it.

"Wow…" he whispered, before he heard someone coming from down the hall. He turned around and saw people starting to come into school, so he decided he should just leave and mind his own business.

As soon as the first bell rang, the students started heading towards their first classes. And to some students' dismay, they had to head into homeroom, with Ms. Darbus. If she found someone even staring at a cell phone she'd put that person in detention until their last generation. She was strict, but when she was inspired, she'd keep talking and let the students sleep.

Troy walked into homeroom and took his seat, ready to face a not very long period of hearing Ms. Darbus' boring voice about her musicals and her passion for the theater. What he couldn't understand was that some of the students – the Evans twins – enjoyed listening to her, and they kept their eyes glued to her the whole class.

"Good morning, young thespians!" Ms. Darbus spoke with a really big smile. "I have some announcements. First, this Spring, we'll be also having a Talent Show, for those who want to show their talents to the whole school, while others can be dedicated to the Spring Musicale. The auditions for the musicale will be held this free period, and the ones for the talent show will be held after class."

Ms. Darbus didn't actually expect her students to reply, so she just went on.

"The Talent Show and the Spring Musicale will be held in different days and weeks, so you can be both in the musicale and the show." Ms. Darbus smiled at her students. "And I'd like to add this was Ms. Evans' idea, she'd like to give the students who didn't make it into the musicale a chance to have their own show." Ms. Darbus pointed Sharpay with a huge smile, and Sharpay smiled too. Her smile was tired though, like she had been crying the whole previous night. Nobody seemed to care though.

"And the second announcement," Ms. Darbus continued. "we'll be doing a class project about songs and small dialogues, which will be in pairs. You will have to write a song, and a small dialogue to present it to the class, based on any play you want, the song has to do with the dialogue, which doesn't need to be very long. And through this dialogue, please try to work on expressing your feelings."

The students groaned as Ms. Darbus continued.

"I already selected the pairs." She grabbed a piece of paper from her desk and began reading it out loud.

Troy hoped her would get paired up with Gabriella, or Chad or Taylor. But he knew the chances were small, very small, so he hoped he would at least be paired up with somebody nice, unlike…

"Troy Bolton and Sharpay Evans…" Ms. Darbus spoke, interrupting Troy's thoughts.

_Of course, the cliché of clichés_! Troy thought, burring his head into his arms, groaning in the process. He knew Sharpay was not a nice person, she was the last person he wanted to be paired up with.

"The due is next month, you'll have plenty of time to work on it." Ms. Darbus finished and the bell rang.

Troy lazily got up from his chair and started to make his way to his next class, until a person grabbed him by the waist. He instantly smiled and looked down to see his girlfriend smiling up at him.

"Hey Wildcat. Sorry about your pair." Gabriella spoke with a sorry look.

"Not your fault." Troy said. "I'll survive."

"Will you, really?" she asked. Troy chuckled.

"I don't think so…" he spoke and the two giggled, until someone pushed them forward and walked past them. They both saw Sharpay walking away quickly, looking mad and hurt. Gabriella frowned.

"Do you think she heard that?" Troy knew she had heard that, and that she was probably really mad at them right now, but he didn't really care about it, Sharpay was Sharpay after all.

"Nah." Troy said, lying even to himself. He wasn't like that, if it was any other girl, he'd walk up to her and apologize, but it was the Ice Queen.

Gabriella shrugged and the two made their way to their next class, which they both shared, so it wasn't a problem.

After school, Troy was waiting by his locker for his dad, who was taking a really long time to return. Troy found himself rolling his eyes, when someone tapped his shoulder. He looked down and saw a pair of brown eyes staring up at him.

"We have Ms. Darbus' thing to do." She spoke.

"I know." Troy nodded. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No." she shook her head slightly, looking down at her shoes. "We could start tomorrow."

"Alright, after basketball practice, you should come to my house, because I have to baby sit my sister." Troy said.

"Wouldn't your sister get in our way?" it was kind of a weird question, but 1: Troy didn't give a damn, and 2: none of them thought about it.

"It's a song." Troy shrugged. "I mean, it doesn't mean that much." Sharpay looked a little bit offended by that, but she didn't let that much show as she just shrugged and looked down.

"Whatever." She said.

"Troy, I'm ready!" Jack said, coming from down the hall. "Sharpay, great to see you!" he said, giving her a hug. "Give your dad my best wishes."

"I will, Coach Bolton." Sharpay smiled at him.

"And remember, if you need anything, just stop by." He said, seriously. Sharpay nodded with a small smile.

"Thank you, Coach Bolton, bye bye." She waved at the two and headed off to the parking lot. Troy looked at his father as they began to walk the same direction Sharpay had gone off to.

"Since when are you and Sharpay friends?" Troy asked.

"I met her dad a few years ago." Jack said. "It really touched me, you know. Well, he's a great man."

"I never met him." Troy said.

"I hope one day you have the chance." Jack said nodding slightly. "It really changes the way you look at things."

Troy nodded, not knowing what his dad was talking about. Well, watching a father give his little girl everything she asked for really could change the way someone saw things. That was something Troy was kinda hoping to see when he got to spend time with his new partner.

Sharpay opened the front door of her house and ran as quickly as she could up to her bedroom. The second she closed the door she burst into tears. She threw herself on her bed, hugging a pillow and crying her eyes out.

She hated it when someone mentioned her father, and she hated the most when people at school thought she didn't have a heart or ears. She had heard worst things about her, but having Troy, the guy she had had a huge crush for most of her life, saying those things about her, it really broke her heart. She just wished they'd see.

"Shar?" she heard her mother knocking on her door. Sharpay turned around, not bothering to wipe her tears away. "Your dad's on Skype."

Sharpay quickly jumped out of her bed, wiping the tears away, running past her mom to her office. She saw her brother smiling at the computer screen, with a few tears inside his eyes. She quickly joined him.

As soon as Sharpay saw her father smiling on the computer screen, she burst into tears again, and she touched the screen lightly with her fingers.

"Hi princess!" Vance spoke with a big smile. "Gosh, I miss you so much!"

"I miss you too, Daddy!" Sharpay said, crying. "When are you getting home, Daddy?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, things are really complicated here." he sighed.

"But you're okay, right dad?" Ryan asked, worriedly.

"I'm alright, Ryan." Vance nodded. "I'm sorry guys, I promise I'll try to be with you guys as soon as I can."

"We miss you a lot, Dad." Ryan said, sighing sadly.

"I know. I wished I could hug you guys." Vance said. "I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise."

"We miss you, Daddy." Sharpay said. "Coach Bolton says hello."

"Oh good, tell him I said 'hello' as well. And wish his family the best." Vance smiled.

"I'll do, Daddy." Sharpay nodded.

"I love you guys a lot. Never forget that." Vance smiled. "I'm sorry guys, I have to go now."

"Bye Daddy, we love you!" Sharpay spoke and her dad went offline.

Sharpay took a deep breath, before breaking down into tears into her twin's arms. Ryan hugged her tight, rubbing her back softly. He knew talking to their dad always made her depressed and sad, and they only talked to him about once a month when he was away.

Vance was a sergeant, he was deployed in Iraq right now. He hadn't been home in 19 months, because things got worse every time he tried to fly home, and he had to stay.

Darby tried to keep the family united and strong, because every time Vance returned home, they were all in tears and celebrating. It's been a long time Vance let, he actually left on the twins' birthday, after their party. The two cried the whole week after that, and now they couldn't wait to have their father back. The great news was always to hear their father was alright, but the bad news was not knowing when he returned.

Ryan took his sister to her room, and stayed with her for a while, until she told him to leave her alone for a while. She cried herself to sleep that night, she missed her father more than anything in the whole world.


	2. The Song

Chapter Two – The Song 

Troy had his little sister, Tessa, in his arms as he tried to entertain her somehow, when he heard the doorbell ring. He went downstairs and opened, not surprised to see Sharpay standing there, with an unexpressed look on her face.

"Hey, come in." he said, stepping aside so she could come in. "It turns out my parents will be home, so Tessa won't be in our way." He smiled.

"Good." She spoke quietly. Troy frowned a little. This wasn't her, something was happening to Sharpay these days.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Because you didn't go to school today."

"I'm aware of that, thank you." Sharpay said coldly. Now it sounded more like her.

"So…" Troy didn't know what to say after that. "I think we should be heading to my room to start working then."

"Okay." Sharpay said. Troy was about to start heading upstairs to his bedroom, when his father appearing, asking for Tessa. Troy quickly gave her to his father and he was about to go upstairs, when Sharpay's voice interrupted him.

"Daddy wishes you all the best." Sharpay said, smiling at Jack. Jack smiled back, but he could see she was trying really hard to hold back tears.

"Oh, dear, come on, don't hold back." Jack pulled her into a big hug, but she still didn't dare shed one tiny tear in front of Troy. She knew he'd ask questions, and she wasn't ready to answer.

Sharpay pulled away, but she found Tessa had grabbed her hair, looking at her with her blue eyes, exactly like Troy's and his father's. Sharpay smiled at her.

"Hi Tessa!" she said, giving her a kiss on her cheek. "You're so cute, but you have to give me back my hair."

"Ba." Tessa said, letting go of her hair.

"Thanks, Tessa." Sharpay said, fixing her hair with a smile.

"Ba." Tessa spoke again, pointing at Sharpay. She and Jack giggled.

"I'm sorry Tessa, Sharpay has things to do." Jack said.

"Maybe later I give you a little hug." Sharpay said. "And tickle your little belly." She said, tickling Tessa's round belly. Sharpay smiled at her again, giving her another kiss, before leaving with Troy to his room.

Troy got in, not bothering to close the door, it wasn't like they had anything to do that nobody could see.

"Okay, I think we should start with the dialogue, then write the song, based on the dialogue." Sharpay said.

"I didn't know you liked kids." Troy said out of the blue.

"I do." Sharpay shrugs. "Your sister is just really cute."

"She only says 'me' and 'ba'." Troy said and giggled. "Although now she's starting to say 'mama'."

"That's good." Sharpay nodded, sitting down on his desk as he sat down on his bed.

"What's up with you and my dad being friends?" Troy asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"My dad invited your parents over for dinner when he was home…" Sharpay trailed, her voice stared to crack. "After that our dads seem to have gotten really close…" her voice cracked again, as tears blurred her vision. She saw Troy's expression turn into a worried one.

"Sharpay, are you okay?" he asked. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing…" Sharpay said. "I'm okay."

"Is your dad okay?" Troy asked.

"We should get to business, Bolton!" she said, standing up. Troy decided to stay quiet, but he wanted to know why she seemed so upset.

"Okay. The dialogue." Troy said. Sharpay began working, and she soon forgot about her dad. For a while. She and Troy didn't know how long the dialogue should be, so they wrote quite a bit, and stopped.

"Okay, we could start thinking about the song." Troy said.

"I have written a song kinda like this a while ago." Sharpay said. "It could be a duet, tomorrow you could come over to my house and I'll show you, we could start working on it."

"Good." Troy nodded. He began to smile, happy their work was done for today, when suddenly Tessa entered his room, slowly as she looked around.

"Hi Tessa!" Sharpay said, picking Tessa up and kissing her cheek.

"Ba." Tessa said, touching Sharpay's cheek slightly.

"Oh there she is." Lucy said, looking at Tessa. "Sharpay, good to see you!" Lucy gave her a big hug. "It's good to see Tessa has such a great friend."

"She has." Sharpay nodded.

"Oh, why don't you sing a song for her?" Lucy asked. "That one you sang on the dinner, remember?"

"Oh yeah! Do you want to hear a song, Tessa?" Sharpay asked, but Tessa was grabbing her hair, looking at her face.

"Let's go to the living room. I have a guitar, if you want." Lucy said.

"Alright, thank you." Sharpay nodded and followed Lucy out of the room.

Did Troy miss something? Since _when_ were Sharpay and her parents so close? Since when did they talk like they had been friends since babies? Troy was very surprised, but he followed the two anyways.

When he got there, he saw Sharpay sitting on the ground with a guitar in her arms, Tessa sitting in front of her, his parents sitting on the couch. He sat down beside his parents and watched as Sharpay started to play a soft melody.

"_You tucked me in, turned out the light _  
_Kept me safe and sound at night _  
_Little girls depend on things like that _

_Brushed my teeth and combed my hair _  
_Had to drag me everywhere _  
_You were always there when I looked back_"

She sang very softly. Troy knew this song, he heard it in Hannah Montana once. He liked that song, it was really cute.

"_You had to do it all alone _  
_Make a living, make a home _  
_Must've been as hard as it could be_"

Sharpay sang happily as she saw Tessa watching her, giving her full attention. Jack and Lucy were listening to her, with a smile on their faces. They loved that song, but they were afraid Sharpay would end up in tears after she sang that.

"_And when I couldn't sleep at night _  
_Scared things wouldn't turn out right _  
_You would hold my hand and sing to me _

_Caterpillar in the tree _  
_How you wonder who you'll be _  
_You can't go far, but you can always dream _

_Wish you may and wish you might _  
_Don't you worry, hold on tight _  
_I promise you there will come a day _  
_Butterfly fly away_"

Sharpay sang, some of these words her dad would tell her when she was a little girl. He always told her she had to dream, and dream high, because in her dreams, nobody could stop her from being anything.

"_Butterfly fly away, butterfly fly away_  
_Flap your wings now you can't stay _  
_Take those dreams and make them all come true_"

Sharpay tried so hard to hold back her tears, but it was becoming impossible, and everyone noticed that. A single tear rolled down her left eye as she continued.

Sharpay decided to jump to the end, and when she finished, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold it in anymore, so she just placed the guitar aside, waved at the Boltons and ran out of the house. Jack ran after her, trying to get her to calm down a bit, but she was way too fast, before they could see anything, she entered her pink convertible and left.

Troy saw that and frowned, not knowing the reason for Sharpay leaving like that without telling anyone why.

"Mom, what's the deal with her and her family?" Troy asked. His dad entered the living room, sighing.

"Troy, what happens in her family is complicated." Lucy said. Jack sat down beside her.

"That girl is the strongest I've _ever_ met in my entire life." Jack said serious. He seemed to be upset he didn't get to give Sharpay a hug and calm her down about all of this, he knew how she felt.

"Why? What happened? I noticed she always tears up when someone mentions her dad." Troy said.

"Troy, her dad's a sergeant." Lucy said. "He's deployed right now in Iraq in a war."

"He's been there for nearly 2 years straight." Jack said. Troy was really shocked, he didn't know that, he never knew. Well, he should've guessed, when it came to musicales, her father was never there, her mother was always the one who showed up at school and at events when parents were needed.

"And that's not the worst part." Lucy said. Troy looked up, surprised.

"There's more?" he asked. Jack and Lucy nodded.

"When she was 6, she was abducted from her house, for a month and a half. She was tortured a lot. More than a little girl should be." Jack said.

"What happened to her?" Troy asked, feeling a terrible guilt and sadness overcome him, and he found himself on the verge of tears.

"She was beaten hard, they broke her arm." Jack said. "When they found her, her father was the first she saw. He was the only one she ever trusted and loved the most, he's her hero." Jack continued, sighing. "Being away from her father is the worst thing for her. You don't know what it feels like having a military dad. Your grandfather was one, it was horrible. Now can you imagine being a girl without a father for almost 2 years, Troy? That girl has no friends."

"How do you know that?" Troy asked, trying the hardest to fight the tears that were threatening to fall. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he felt a sudden urge to give Sharpay the biggest hug of her life.

"Her father told me, he said he's trying hard to get her to make friends." Jack said. "Can you imagine her pain? She has no one to hug when she's sad."

"God, that's horrible." Troy said.

"Her only friend is gone, with risks of getting killed." Lucy said.

"I…" Troy chocked on his own words, he didn't know what to say. He just stood up. "I'll be right back." He ran out the door, knowing he had to do it.

* * *

**A/N: here it is, I hope you like it :) I don't own the song 'Butterfly Fly Away', Miley Cyrus does. **


	3. The Sudden Visitor

Chapter Three – The Sudden Visitor 

Sharpay entered her room, closing the door and crying her eyes out, hugging her pillow. It was always the same thing, nobody could ever make her pain go away. The only one who could do that was her father, who was away in Iraq, and she didn't know when she was going to see him again.

Sharpay looked at the floor, at the song she was writing for her father, for when he got home. She gave it a better look and decided she would sing it in the Talent Show. She started crying even harder, when she heard someone coming in without knocking.

"I said I don't want to disturbed, Ryan!" she turned around, surprised to see another blue eyed guy standing on her doorway, a bit shocked, looking like he was in the verge of tears himself. "Troy?" her voice was a whisper, like she was about to break down.

Instead of answering, he just pulled her into a huge, bear-like hug. He thought she'd push him away, punch him and yell at him to leave, but instead she just hugged him back and cried onto his shoulder as he stroked her hair.

"My dad told me." he said. "I'm sorry."

Sharpay continued crying onto his shoulder, surprised. She actually enjoyed that hug, it was a different hug, from someone she never thought she would hug. She enjoyed it, it made her feel safe.

"I'm also sorry about the things Gabriella and I said about you in school." He said. "We didn't mean it."

"Yes, you did." She said, pulling apart. Her eyes were puffy and really red, it looked like a different person.

"We didn't. We're sorry." Troy said. "I know I will survive this month with you, you know why?"

"Because you're feeling sorry because my dad's in the army?" she asked.

"Because I wanna be your friend." He said, holding her face. She looked even more surprised.

"You're just saying that because you found out about my family!" she said. Even though she wanted a friend she could trust more than anything, she didn't trust Troy enough.

Troy knew what she said was partly true, but he couldn't let her suffer alone, he didn't want her to keep crying herself all night in her room, without having someone to talk to.

"I _want_ to be your friend." Troy said. "I don't care what people say, I don't care about my reputation! I want to be your friend. Period."

"For… for real?" Sharpay was too broken to push him away when she needed someone.

"For real." He said. "Whenever you need me, you can call me. Even if it's at 3 o'clock in the morning."

"Won't I bother you?" she asked.

"You could never bother me. Besides, I'm used to waking up in the morning." He smiled down at her. "Anytime, anytime at all. If you need me, just call."

"Thank you." Was all Sharpay managed to say before hugging him again and bursting in tears again.

Troy smiled. He wished his new friendship with Sharpay would make things better for her, he hated to see her suffer. He never noticed that, but he hated to see her crying.

**.**

The next afternoon, Sharpay opened the door of her house and smiled as she saw her new and only friend, Troy standing there, smiling. She let him in, giving him a tour around the house, showing him the pictures, this time without crying. Troy said he really respected her father, even without knowing him.

"Remember to thank your father for his service to our country." Troy said serious.

"I will." Sharpay nodded.

The two made their way to Sharpay's room, and Troy saw on one of the many walls a big picture of her and her dad. It was a beautiful picture, Sharpay didn't seem to be older than 7 years old, and she was really happy on her father's arm, her and Ryan. Vance was holding the two, and they were on the airport.

"So, are you going to participate the Talent Show?" Sharpay asked, sitting down on her bed.

"No. You?" Troy asked.

"Yeah." She said.

"Which song are you going to sing?" Troy asked, sitting beside her.

"Oh, it's a secret." She said.

"Oh, okay." Troy nodded.

"Speaking of song, here's the song I told you about." She said, showing him a piece of paper where she wrote the lyrics, only. "I changed it, now it's a duet. Come here, I'll show you how you're supposed to sing."

She took him to the music room. The two sat by the piano and Sharpay started playing. Troy was surprised, she played better than Kelsi, who was also a great pianist.

Sharpay instructed him what parts he should sing, what key and which parts he shouldn't sing. He was surprised by the lyrics, it looked like it meant a lot to her.

"Did you write this to someone?" he asked her.

"Not really." Sharpay shrugged. "I sometimes imagine what it would be like to have a boyfriend, having someone holding you, and feeling the warmth of the person you love."

"I see, but it looks like you've got the feeling of being in love." Troy said. "I mean these lyrics are very intense."

"You think so?" Sharpay asked.

"Yeah, I do." Troy nodded.

"Well thanks." She smiled.

"You're welcome." He smiled back.

"Oh, listen to this one, I wrote it based on a dream I had." She said, grabbing her pink guitar.

"_So how come when I reach out my fingers _  
_It feels like more than distance between us?_

_In this California king bed _  
_We're ten thousand miles apart _  
_I've been California wishing on these stars _  
_For your heart on me _  
_My California king_"

She sang so intensely, it felt like she was bursting her heart out into that song.

"That's awesome!" he said. "What dream did you have?"

"Oh, it was about a couple whose relationship is only based on sex, and then the girl sings that to the boy." She said.

"That's a cool dream, I never had that kind of dream." Troy said.

"Yeah, your dreams are only about Gabriella." She elbowed his ribs playfully while he rolled his eyes and she giggled. "I'll go to the bathroom, I'll be right back." She said, leaving the room.

Troy sighed. He was having a good time with Sharpay. He saw she was nothing like the girl she was in school, she was actually sweet, and she just missed her father more than anything in the world, and if he could do anything to help her, he would.

"Shar, I'm- Oh, hi Troy!" Darby said, entering the music room. "Where's Sharpay?"

"She just went to the bathroom." Troy smiled.

"Oh. I just wanted to ask her if she wanted anything from the supermarket." She said. "Oh, I'll just make dinner after I come back, would you like to stay?"

"I think that would be fine, thank you." Troy smiled. "Mrs. Evans, I'm sorry about your husband. I hope he gets here really soon."

"Thank you, Troy, we do too." Darby nodded. "By the way, you can call me Darby." She smiled and Troy smiled too.

"I wished I could make a surprise to Sharpay, she really misses him." He said.

"Yeah, I wished we could surprise her too." Darby nodded.

"Maybe we could try to talk to Mr. Evans to make this happen. Do you think it would be possible?" Troy asked her. "I really wanted to make her happy, by seeing her dad again."

"You really care about her." Darby smiled. Troy nodded. "I think that's very possible, she'll be thrilled."

"I know, I hope that's soon." Troy nodded. "By the way, my parents sent you and your family their best wishes."

"Thank you, Troy." Darby said. "Anyway, I'm leaving, ask my daughter to send me a message if she wants anything."

"I'll do." Troy nodded and Darby left with a smile.

Sharpay came back, and the two went to her bedroom and continued working on their dialogue. As surprising as it seems, the two didn't create a Nicholas Sparks like romance. They did kind of a drama instead, because by the way Sharpay missed her father, she could really do something with her tears, and crying them in that presentation would really make Ms. Darbus cry too.

"Okay, what should we put here? I could say 'Kale, there's nothing you can do that would make up for your past', then what could you say?" she asked, tapping her pink pencil on the piece of paper.

"Lots of things." Troy said. Sharpay looked at him and glared at him, making him laugh. "I don't know, maybe I could say 'But I want to be true to you, why don't you let me in? I want to be in our son's life again!'." He said.

"Since when do Lua and Kale have a son?" Sharpay asked.

"They could have a son." Troy shrugged. "That would make it even more dramatic, then Kale says all he wants is to give Lua one last kiss, then we end it and sing the song."

"So Lua wants him back?" Sharpay asked, confused.

"Yeah, maybe he could give her a kiss before we start the song." He said.

"Yeah, you wish." Sharpay said, looking back down at the dialogue.

"I'm serious, they could argue a little more, one of those arguments based on love and hate, then he kisses her, and she sees that's all she wants." Troy said, and he was serious. "I mean, Ms. Darbus would have an orgasm."

"Ewww!" Sharpay said with a disgusting look on her face. "Thanks for putting that imagine in my head, that'll stick for years!"

Troy laughed.

"Sorry." He said.

"But that's probably true." Sharpay said. "It's a good idea by the way."

"Thanks." Troy nodded.

"I have to take a shower, are you leaving now?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm staying for dinner." Troy smiled.

"Oh good!" Sharpay said. "Alright then, if you just wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Or long minutes if you're anything like my mom." Troy rolled his eyes.

"What makes you think I'm anything like your mom?" Sharpay put her hands on hips. Troy laughed.

"Sorry, just go take your shower." Troy said. Sharpay rolled her eyes, grabbed a white tank top and white shorts, clean underwear and then she headed to her bathroom.

Troy had to wait quite a few minutes, and he smelled chocolate when she finally opened the door, with a white towel around her hair.

"Your shampoo smells like chocolate." Troy said, then he noticed her top was see-through, and that she wasn't wearing any bra. He looked down at his hands, uncomfortably as she looked at him confused, then she finally realized. She grabbed a sweatshirt from her closet and put it on, also feeling uncomfortable.

"Sorry about that." She said.

"It's okay." Troy said, finally look up at her. "Oh, your mom went to the supermarket, she said you should text her if you need anything."

"Okay. I don't need anything though." Sharpay shrugged, taking the towel off her hair, placing on the bathroom, then she came back with a pink brush.

"Wow, your hair is long!" Troy said, surprised to see her hair was almost reaching her elbows.

"It's because it's wet." Sharpay said. "It's not that long, it barely passes the shoulders."

"Well, look at _my_ hair." He pointed his hair. "Your hair _is_ long."

Sharpay shrugged and continued brushing her hair.

"I like it that way." She said, sitting down on the bed, beside him.

"Kids, I'm home!" Darby yelled from downstairs.

"Hey, shouldn't we go help her?" Troy asked.

"Yeah." Sharpay said. The two walked downstairs to the kitchen and helped Darby with the groceries, then the two helped her cooking dinner. Both Darby and Sharpay were surprised to see Troy was such a good helper and an awesome guy.

Ryan showed up for dinner, and he was surprised to find Troy there as well, but he noticed his sister was getting along with him pretty well, and she wasn't all depressed like she would be if it was just the three of them. He was happy she made a friend.

Troy helped the family with the dishes, and when it was time for him to leave, he said goodbye, and Sharpay walked him to the door. He was about to head to his truck, but he stopped and turned around.

"Oh, I won't be able to work tomorrow, I have practice until 5, then I have a date with Gabriella." He said.

"Alright." Sharpay nodded. "We'll see the day after that, if you're free."

"Yes. See you then." He smiled and walked to his truck.

Sharpay smiled and closed the door, then she took off her sweatshirt, which was killing her and went straight up to her room.

**. **

The next day at school, things were mostly normal. This year, neither Troy nor Gabriella signed up for the musical, but Gabriella did sign up for the talent show. She even tried to convince Troy to sing a duet with her, but he said he had to focus on basketball, and that he'd leave the stage for her this year. The whole school was surprised, Gabriella singing alone. But they all knew she had a great voice.

Sharpay got the lead in the musical, which wasn't a surprise to anyone. Only this year, she wouldn't be so obsessed about doing a play about _her_, she wasn't so selfish anymore, or at least she didn't want to be known as selfish anymore. And of course, nobody was surprised when they heard she signed up for the talent show, it was typical.

Ryan was happy he didn't see his sister that sad. When he got home, sure, she locked herself in her room, but she didn't cry herself all night long. He even heard her listening to a song, a happy one, and no sign of tears. It made both him and his mother very happy.

**. **

"So, how's your Drama project going?" Gabriella asked as she took a seat in the Science Gardens next to Troy.

"Good." Troy shrugged. "I'm surviving."

"That's good. Mine is going down the hill." Gabriella said. "I'm paired up with Zeke, and we don't have creativity to write a song, much less a dialogue based on the song."

"Well, our dialogue is ready." Troy said as he looked around. "Sharpay had a song already, so we wrote the dialogue from it."

"Is it about her love for pink and for herself?" Gabriella chuckled.

"No, because she's not all about pink and herself." Troy said and Gabriella frowned.

"That's a shock." She giggled.

"Yeah." Troy sighed. "We're continuing the project today, though."

"Zeke and I too." Gabriella sighed. "Well the good part is, he bakes cookies every time I go there, and they're awesome!"

"I've never tried Zeke's cookie." Troy said.

"They're really good. And he's a sweet guy." Gabriella said.

"And is he a good kisser?" Troy joked.

"Not as good as you." She chuckled, giving him a peck on the lips.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Don't worry, we never kissed." Gabriella laughed at her boyfriend's reaction. She then studied his face, knowing something was wrong, and that something had changed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You look… different." She said. "Something changed."

"Nothing changed, I'm still the same me." he said. "But if you start seeing me with blond hair and miniskirts, that's when you need to start worrying." Gabriella laughed.

"I will, after I finish laughing." She smiled at him and the bell rang. The two groaned and stood up, heading back to class.

* * *

**A/N: sorry for the long wait, but my birthday was two weeks ago, May 4th, and I've been busy with the finals. Now I'm back, and I'll keep updating :) Again, I don't own 'California King Bed', Rihanna does.**


	4. The Dreams

Chapter Four – The Dreams 

Sharpay was in front of her mirror, looking confused as she put on two different tiaras, trying to see which one looked better. She was having a seriously hard time trying to pick one. Well, that was for her outfit for tomorrow, but she liked to leave it ready in the morning.

She was wearing a dark purple top, a blue jeans mini skirt and black high heels. The two tiaras were white, and one of them had a bow on it, and the other one had diamonds all over it. She knew bows looked good in her hair, but she also loved diamonds, so there was no way she could pick!

"Don't hurt yourself." She heard Troy speak. She turned around and saw him on his doorway, holding his little sister in his arms, and a baby pink bag over his shoulder. She smiled when she saw him and he smiled back.

"Hi Tessa!" she said, giving the baby a kiss on the cheek. "Why are you here?"

"My parents went to the movies." He sighed. "Well, she won't bother. And besides, our dialogue is nearly finished."

"Yeah." Sharpay nodded. "Hey, can you help me pick a tiara?" she asked as she held the two tiaras in front of him, as he looked between the two, then back up at her.

"Are you serious?" he asked. She giggled.

"Dead serious." She said. Tessa reached out and grabbed the one full of diamonds and stared at it, then looked up at Sharpay. "Thank you, Tessa, I could always use feminine help." She said, getting the tiara back from the toddler. "I think you could leave Tessa on the ground, we'll be watching her as we work."

"Alright." Troy nodded. "We could rehearse the song first, then we could get more into the dialogue."

"Good idea." Sharpay nodded. "Let's go to the movies room."

Troy put the bag on Sharpay's bed, then the two left Sharpay's room and went to the movies room. They sat down by the piano, Troy placed Tessa on his lap as he sang. She would kit a few notes sometimes and giggle, and it'd make it hard for Sharpay to concentrate and not laugh. She loved Tessa, she was just so cute.

"Hey, will you ever tell me which song you're going to sing in the talent show?" Troy asked.

"Nope." Sharpay shook her head. "You'll listen to it in the show."

"Okay." He looked disappointed. He looked down at his sister and saw her pointing at Sharpay.

"PayPay." She repeated over and over as she pointed the blonde, who gave her a huge smile.

"You're saying my name, Tessa!" she said as she grabbed the baby's hand.

"PayPay." Tessa said.

"Yeah, that's me!" Sharpay said. "That's so great, my dad used to call me PayPay when I was little."

"Really?" Troy asked.

"Or sometimes just Pay." She shrugged as she continued playing with Tessa's hands.

"Pay." Troy thought. "I like it. I'm going to call you Pay." He smiled down at her and she looked up at him and smiled, then looked back down at Tessa.

Tessa grabbed one blond lock from Sharpay's hair and only then Troy noticed how perfect her curls really were, and how they fell perfectly down her back. She wasn't that close to him, but close enough for him to smell her shampoo again, it was very good. He noticed Gabriella's hair smelled like strawberries, which was very different than chocolate, but he liked both of them. He also noticed how similar the two girls' locks were, the only difference between them is that one of them was brunette and the other was blonde.

Sharpay was giggling as she listened to Tessa repeating over and over again her nickname. She was happy the little girl was already saying her name, she was really cute. She looked a lot like Troy.

Tessa grabbed the collar of Sharpay's top and pulled it to her direction. Sharpay's eyes widened, and she quickly let go of the baby's grip and sat back up, her face turning into a very bright red. Troy was a bit surprised too, his face was also turning red. It was the second time an accident like this had happened, only this time Sharpay was wearing a bra, a black lacy one, he noticed. _Actually nice…_ he thought, but quickly shook his head to push that thought away, he shouldn't think like that about Sharpay.

"Okay Tessa… your little hands should stay away from there." Sharpay forced a giggle, which turned into a laugh when she heard the baby laughing while putting her head in her mouth, then looking up at her brother.

"Sorry about that." Troy finally spoke.

"Don't worry, she's just a baby." Sharpay said.

"Hey Shar!" Ryan opened the door, breaking the tension between the two immediately. "I'm heading off to Jason's house to work on Ms. Darbus' thingy, mom is out with her friends, you two will be alone for a while, okay?"

"Okay." Sharpay nodded.

"Wait, you're paired up with Jason?" Troy asked. Ryan rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Yeah." He said and the two laughed.

"Good luck." Sharpay said giggling.

"Thanks, I'll need it." Ryan said. "Good luck to you guys too."

"Thanks." The two said.

Ryan smiled and left, leaving the door opened after himself. The two would be alone, there was no need to close the door.

"So, do you wanna eat something?" Sharpay asked, finally looking up at Troy, forgetting the top incident.

"Sure." Troy said. "I have to give Tessa something to eat too."

"Alright."

Troy grabbed Tessa's nursing bottle on her bag and the two headed to the kitchen. Sharpay made two toasts as she watched Troy feeding his little sister. She was impressed by how good he was with babies. Well, having a young sister was starting to rub off on him.

"Gabriella told me she's paired up with Zeke." Troy said.

"Oh." Sharpay said. "Well at least he'll cook for her."

"Yeah." Troy shrugs. "She said his cookies are amazing."

"Oh yeah, I tried." Sharpay said. "Mine are better."

"You bake?" he asked, surprised.

"Only cookies." She said. She finished her toast, then she put her plate on the sink, washing it, then she looked around and found a chocolate bar. She put it on the table she and Troy were sitting on and opened it, grabbing a piece.

"Do you eat those every day?" Troy asked, confused.

"No, only when I'm feeling like." Sharpay said. "I am a serious chocolate lover."

"Chocolate is good." Troy nodded.

"It's the best thing in the world!" Sharpay said, putting another piece into her mouth. "For now." She added and chuckled.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, you know how people say sex is the best thing ever?" she asked and he nodded. "I'm waiting to confirm that, and since I haven't had sex yet, chocolate is the best thing for me." she smiled. Troy giggled.

"How many boyfriends have you had?" Troy asked and she looked up at him as she swallowed another piece of chocolate.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked.

"We're friends, I wanted to know. If you tell me, I'll tell you my number." He said.

"Alright. None." She answered simply. "Now you?"

"One… and a half…?" he thought confusedly.

"A half? You dated a half of a girl?" Sharpay asked and he giggled.

"No, we were around 12, we'd walk around the halls, holding hands and we'd talk on the phone, but it wasn't serious." He said. "We didn't even kiss."

"Oh." Sharpay nodded. "So your first kiss was with Gabriella?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah." He nodded. "She's my first real girlfriend."

"That's great." Sharpay smiled. "I'm happy for you guys." Troy looked down at her for any sign she was lying, and found none, which confused him. He just shrugged it off.

"Who was your first kiss?" Troy asked.

"No one." Sharpay shrugged. "I never had a first kiss. Actually, not a _real_ kiss, you know. I just kissed like two guys onstage, but it was just a peck, never something serious."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "To tell you the truth, besides Ryan and Daddy, you're the only boy who ever came up to me and offered to be my friend." She said, playing with Tessa's hand. She looked up at him and smiled. "So thanks."

"You're welcome." He smiled.

**. **

When Troy got home, he put his sister on her crib, since she had fallen asleep, took a shower and went straight to bed. He couldn't stop thinking about what he had seen today. When Tessa pulled Sharpay's top, his eyes went immediately to her cleavage, and to her boobs. He noticed they were slightly bigger than Gabriella's. And for the half second he saw them, he could tell they were very close to perfection. He tried pushing those thoughts away, but he couldn't. Whenever he tried to think of his girlfriend, Sharpay's face would pop up in his mind instead, and stay there. Before he went to sleep, he actually gave up trying to erase the image from his mind, and he let Sharpay stay there. Thinking of her wouldn't do him any harm, would it?

The next morning when he woke up, he grabbed some clothes and went straight to the shower. He couldn't risk one of his parents opening the door and finding him with a boner, it'd be way too embarrassing. He had had one of those dreams he had once in a while. Sure, he and Gabriella had never done anything related to sex, they never actually talked about it, but Troy had dreams about her, about them. That they were fooling around and even having sex, and he'd wake up in the similar situation he was today, so he'd hurry to the shower.

Only this time, when Troy was putting shampoo in his hair, he reminded that in the dream, he was running his fingers through the girl's hair, only she wasn't brunette, but… blonde! And that was when he remembered; she had been on top of him, she had kissed him slowly, and when she pulled apart, he could see her perfect, flawless face, and he heard her soft, cute giggle.

Had he just had a dream… with _Sharpay_? Instead of his girlfriend _Gabriella_? He never thought that would happen. Well, occurrences of the last day helped quite a bit. He thought if he hadn't seen and thought of Sharpay after he had seen her cleavage, he would never have had a dream with her.

When he remembered the details of the dream, it only made his erection harder, so he turned the water colder, trying to distract himself. He decided he would think about Gabriella instead, but that didn't help either, so he thought about his little sister. Then his brain remembered the incident his sister caused, and it went back to zero._ Damn it!_ He thought. He then thought about his parents, then the situation got better, and he turned the water even colder, trying to get out of the shower quick, before his parents questioned about him taking so long.

Troy then got out, got dressed and went down to get breakfast. He ate normally, his dream slowly disappearing into his mind, lucky for him. His parents didn't notice anything strange about him, so no questions so far.

At school, the emptiness of the halls made Troy's mind wander, and once again, his dream came back. He groaned, then rushed to the gym, hoping to shoot some hoops before school so he could keep himself distracted. It was working for some time, until he heard her sweet voice.

"Hey!" he turned around and smiled when he found Gabriella there instead. _Better_. "Something wrong?"

"No, why?" he asked, throwing the ball right into the hoop.

"You don't usually shoot some hoops unless something's seriously wrong." Gabriella said, picking up the ball and throwing it into the hoop herself.

"No, I'm good." Troy smiled. "Actually, if something was wrong, you'd see me messing up, throwing it anywhere _but_ into the hoop." He said and she giggled.

"True." She said. "Come on, class is about to start." She grabbed his hand, giving him a peck on the lips, then the two got out of the gym. "Oh, I finally decided which song I'll sing for the talent show!"

"Which one?" Troy asked excitedly.

"Only Girl." She smiled. "By Rihanna."

"Oh, that's a good one." He said. "Nice choice."

"Thanks." She smiled.

Troy headed to his locker, grabbed his books and the bell rang. The two went hand in hand to their first class.

It turned out facing Sharpay that day was easier than Troy expected. They didn't actually speak, but every time he looked at her and she'd smile at him, he wouldn't feel awkward and blush. He hoped that when they did talk, he wouldn't feel awkward. That wouldn't be good.

The 7 friends sat on their usual table at lunch, talking and sometimes arguing. Troy enjoyed spending time with his friends. He noticed Ryan had joined them that time, though. He frowned, looking over at the table he and Sharpay usually sat, in the middle of the cafeteria, to see her eating alone quietly. She didn't look happy, she didn't look up. Troy decided he'd talk to her later, and went back to the conversation between his friends when he heard his name.

"So, this Friday? A sleepover in my house?" Chad asked.

"Sure, I'm in." everybody agreed.

"Great, be there at 7." Chad said.

"Alright." Everybody nodded. Troy hoped that his mind wouldn't surprise him with another dream that sleepover, that'd be completely embarrassing for everyone.

**. **

That afternoon at Sharpay's house, things weren't awkward. Troy was really happy about that, the conversation between the two just flew, it was easy.

The two were in Sharpay's room, rehearsing their dialogue as they thought of a way to finish it. They were having a hard time deciding the end. Sharpay said she wanted it to be romantic, but not too much so Gabriella wouldn't be mad at her, and Troy insisted it was only an act, and that she wouldn't get mad.

"Alright, then the end." Sharpay said sighing as she stared down at her paper. "I'm not sure about this kissing thing."

"I'm not trying to sound weird, okay? I'm saying that it's in the name of your song, it'd look weird to say it in the song and not have it in the dialogue, you know?"

"You're right about that." She said, looking between the dialogue and the lyrics. "I'll be right back." She said, leaving the room with both sheets of paper in her hands.

Troy ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, then Darby opened the door, smiley and happy to see her daughter wasn't around.

"Hello Mrs. Evans." Troy smiled.

"You can call me Darby." She smiled. "I was here to talk to you about the surprise thing. I talked to Vance, he said he'd love to do it."

"Great!" Troy said. "I really want to see the look on Sharpay's face when she sees him."

"Yeah, it'll be great." Darby smiled.

"Well, I know we have that Talent Show, and you and Ryan will probably go, so he could surprise her after her song, because before would be impossible." Troy suggested.

"Yeah, I like your idea." Darby nodded. "I'll talk to Vance about that." She turned on her heel and was about to walk out the door. "Oh and Troy?" Troy looked up at her and she smiled at him. "Thank you for caring about my daughter."

"You're welcome Mrs- hmm… Darby." He corrected himself. She smiled and left.

Troy smiled. He would get to make Sharpay happy, that was all he wanted. Huh? Since when? Just a few days ago he didn't want to be anywhere near her, and now he was having dreams with her and wanting to make her happy? Well, that was new.


	5. The Presentation

Chapter Five – The Presentation 

The weeks passed by quickly, and the day of the presentation had finally came. Sharpay and Troy's friendship got stronger, and they didn't tell anyone about it. Even Ryan didn't suspect, because he knew his sister was a great person at home, and that Troy was a great guy too, but he didn't know they were actual friends.

No other 'accident' happened, but Troy's dreams kept coming, and he started noticing more details about Sharpay, for example, how long and beautiful her legs were, and her love for heels. She looked amazing in them anyway. He also noticed her eyes were really beautiful, they held more emotion that Gabriella's eyes ever did. He tried to push those thoughts away, but they always found their ways into his brain again. Every time he went out with Gabriella, he'd wish he was with Sharpay instead, and he wasn't as happy around Gabriella as he used to be, but she didn't seem to notice. She asked once, and he told her it was the Drama project.

Troy sat quietly as he watched his girlfriend and Zeke presenting their dialogue, which didn't turn out that bad by the way. Then they sang together, which didn't sound that bad also. Troy smiled, proud Gabriella did a good job. When she sat down by his side, he gave her a peck on the lips, before hearing his name being called, so he stood up and he and Sharpay stepped on the stage.

The two presented their dialogue, showing as much emotion as they could. When Kale was trying to get Lua to forgive and Sharpay had to cry, she nearly cried her heart out, it was so good. He learned in those weeks with her that she was a better actress than anybody thought.

"Please Lua…" he said, grabbing her arm. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm not sure I can forgive you." She spoke quietly.

"Please, just…" he said, looking down at her lips. "I promise I'll never hurt you again." He then grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her close to him, placing a soft kiss on her lips, pulling away after a few seconds.

The students clapped, then Sharpay headed to the piano to start the song.

"Do want me to play it?" Kelsi asked.

"There's no need, Kelsi, I can play it myself." Sharpay smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes. Kelsi nodded, confused as to why the Ice Queen gave her a smile, but she left and sat down behind Ms. Darbus, who was watching the two closely.

Sharpay sat by the piano, leaving Troy on his foot, looking around. She began playing softly, and then started singing;

"_Lying here with you so close to me _  
_It's hard to fight these feelings _  
_When it feels so hard to breathe _  
_Caught up in this moment _  
_Caught up in your smile_"

Sharpay looked up at Troy and smiled at him, he smiled back and moved closer to her.

"_I've never opened up to anyone _  
_It's so hard to hold back _  
_When I'm holding you in my arms _  
_But we don't need to rush this _  
_Let's just take it slow_"

He sang looking at her, giving himself the chance to look at her beautiful face without having to worry about it. She was beautiful, really beautiful and she was a really good singer.

"_Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight _  
_Just a touch of the fire burning so bright _  
_No, I don't wanna mess this thing up _  
_I don't want push too far _  
_Just a shot in the dark that you just might be the one _  
_I've been waiting for my whole life _  
_So baby I'm alright _  
_With just a kiss goodnight_"

The two sang, staring at each other, showing as much emotion as they could. They didn't even pay attention to the others, it was just the two in the stage right now.

"_I know that if we give this a little time _  
_It'll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find _  
_It's never felt so real _  
_No, it's never felt so right _

_Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight _  
_Just a touch of the fire burning so bright _  
_No, I don't want to mess this thing up _  
_I don't want push too far _  
_Just a shot in the dark that you just might be the one _  
_I've been waiting for my whole life _  
_So baby I'm alright _  
_With just a kiss goodnight _

_No, I don't want to say goodnight _  
_I know it's time to leave _  
_But you'll be in my dreams _  
_Tonight  
__Tonight  
Tonight_"

They continued singing, as everyone watched, amazed by how good they sounded together, and they were also surprised by the song Sharpay wrote, it sounded nothing like her.

"_Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight _  
_Just a touch of the fire burning so bright _  
_No, I don't want to mess this thing up _  
_I don't want push too far _  
_Just a shot in the dark that you just might be the one_  
_ I've been waiting for my whole life _  
_So baby I'm alright _

_Whoa whoa… _  
_Let's do this right _  
_With just a kiss goodnight _  
_With a kiss goodnight _  
_Kiss goodnight_"

The two looked deeply into each other's eyes as they heard people clapping. Both of them didn't want to look away, they were so lost in each other. But they did look away, they looked at the audience and smiled. Then they took their seats.

"That was amazing!" Gabriella said, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"Thanks." He smiled at her.

"Alright, that's it for today. Don't forget the Talent Show is next week, don't be late!"

Not too many people paid attention to that, so they just stood up and left when the bell rang. Troy was still trying to figure out a way to be near Gabriella and be happy like he was before. It was weird, he never felt that way before.

**. **

Sharpay walked down the stairs humming the song she just sang with Troy that day as she headed to the kitchen when the bell rang. She frowned in confusion, since her and her family wasn't expecting any visitors that afternoon. She shrugged and opened the door anyway, but she was surprised to see Troy standing there.

"Hi, what are you doing here? The project's over." She spoke, letting him in anyway.

"What, does a guy need a reason to be with his friend?" he asked and she smiled, closing the door after him.

"Well I'm glad you're here. I was just going to get something to eat, do you want anything?" she asked him.

"No thanks." He smiled. She nodded and they went to the kitchen. "Tessa's repeating your name nonstop. She looks around, saying your name, I think she knows it's you."

"That's so cute!" Sharpay said. "I'm going to visit her someday."

"She misses you." Troy nodded as he watched her eating slices of apple and strawberries. He frowned. "Is that good?" he asked.

"Oh come on, it's apple and strawberries, you never ate them?" she asked.

"I did, but… not together." He said.

"Try it, then, it's really good." She said, giving him a spoonful. He chewed it, thinking, then he looked at her and nodded.

"It _is_ good." He said. "You have good taste in fruits."

"Thanks." She smiled. "Strawberries are my favorite. I like them without sugar or chocolate."

"Really?" Troy asked. She nodded. "That's a first."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." She said, putting the plate in the sink then looking at him. "So, when do you have another date with Gabriella?"

"I don't know." He shrugged and looked at her. Her big, beautiful chocolate brown eyes staring back at him. "Can I tell you something? As a friend?"

"Yeah." She nodded, sitting next to him.

"It's complicated, because my other friends wouldn't accept it very well, and you're the only one I can count on for this." He said. She smiled, seeing he trusted her.

"You can tell me anything, you know that." she said. He smiled at her, then looked at his hands.

"I just…" Troy sighed, then looking down at her again. "I've been having thoughts about this girl, who's not Gabriella, and I can't seem to take her out of my head. When I'm with her, I'm happier then when I'm with Gabriella. I want to be happy around Gabriella, but I don't want to stop seeing this girl." He sighed, looking at his hands, thinking of a way to explain. "And I don't want to hurt them."

"Well…" Sharpay sighed, thinking of something to tell him. "It seems to me that you need to come clean with Gabriella. It's not fair for you to stay in a relationship if you're in love with somebody else."

"That sounds right." Troy nodded.

"So if I were you, I'd break up with Gabriella and see if I had a chance with this other girl." She said. He smiled down at her.

"Thanks." He said.

"You're welcome." She smiled back. "Who is this girl by the way? Who's the lucky woman that won the heart of Troy Bolton, primo boy of East High?" she crossed her arms, smirking.

"Oh, I can't tell you that. Sorry." He said.

"That's okay, I understand." She nodded. "But go for it with the girl."

"I will try." Troy nodded. "It's just… we're friends, I don't want to lose our friendship."

"Troy, what kind of girl would say 'no' to you?" she asked.

"Well, this girl's different. She's herself, she doesn't care about what others think. And besides, bad things happened in her past, she's hurt." He said. "All I wanna do is be there for her, and make her pain go away."

She smiled.

"That's cute." She said. "But if you don't risk, you'll never know what might happen."

"Yeah…" he said, thinking. "I know."

She smiled at him, then sighing. He looked up at her and studied her face for a really long time. He loved her smile, she had a really beautiful smile. He knew she was right, he had to come clean with Gabriella.

"Thank you." He said.

"You're welcome. What are friends for?" she giggled. "When are you going to ask the girl out?"

"I don't know." Troy shrugged. "I have to talk to Gabriella first."

Sharpay nodded and sighed, then she stood up and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, let's watch a movie!"

She had a smile on her face, and he smiled back at her. He was really happy to see her happy, it really made him feel better.

When he left that afternoon, actually evening, Sharpay went up to her room and closed the door, this time, with a smile on her face. She sat down on her bed and for a reason, she couldn't get Troy out of her head. Sure, she had had a big crush on him, but she thought it was gone. She was okay about seeing him with Gabriella, but now she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She had fallen for him again, she knew it. She wanted him to be hers, and only hers. But she wanted him to be happy, so she needed to help him get the girl he told her about. If that would make him happy, then she was going to help him with it.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait, but here it is. Yay! In the next chapters, there will be more romantic interaction between Troy and Sharpay. I hope you like it and review :D**


	6. The Sleepover

Chapter Six – The Sleepover

Troy was inside his room, putting his school stuff away, since he had finished all his homeworks.

This evening he would be heading off to Chad's house for their big sleepover. Again. Last time it went all too well, so Chad wanted to do it again, after the Drama presentations.

Troy was afraid he would have one of his dreams, he was hoping that wouldn't happen since Chad invited them for the other sleepover. He didn't have a dream last time, but since he got to spend more and more time with Sharpay, his dreams were more frequent, and better.

Before he headed off to Chad's house, Troy was going to spend the afternoon with Sharpay, like always. The two would watch movies and sometimes they'd make jokes about each other, or walk around the neighborhood.

Troy headed to Sharpay's house, and when he got there, he found out her mother was gone, only Ryan was there. Well, he now knew about the two being friends, but he didn't tell anyone about it.

Troy and Sharpay were in the backyard of the house, she was showing him around. He was impressed, her house was really big and beautiful, it was amazing. And she was a wonderful person, she wasn't like the Ice Queen she showed in school.

The two were walking around the pool, talking as they did. She was telling him stories about some incidents that happened in the pool.

"… we were playing volleyball around the pool, when suddenly I turned my head around, and Ryan threw the ball at me, so I fell backwards, right into the pool." She said while he laughed.

"That must've been fun." He said. She elbowed him on the ribs to stop laughing.

"Well, I guess bad things happen around this pool." She spoke and looked at the huge mansion. She saw Ryan on his balcony, calling Troy, saying it was time for them to go.

"I'm sorry, I have to go now." He said. He turned to her and smiled. He tried to walk past her, but somehow she lost her balance. She screamed loudly, grabbing the collar of his white T-shirt and pulling him with her into the pool.

The two hit the water with a splash, but they soon resurfaced. It took them a second to realize what just happened, but when they did, the two burst out laughing.

"Things like that only happen to me!" Sharpay said, swimming towards the edge.

"And you drag me along with you." He said, laughing as he got out of the pool.

"What, you made me lose my balance!" she said.

"You didn't have to grab my shirt!" he said while he tried to dry himself.

"I _involuntarily_ grabbed you shirt." She said, drying her hair.

"Good, now I don't have other clothes." He said.

"Good, you'll show up in Chad's house wearing nothing!" she said with a smile.

"I bet you'd like that." He said. She giggled. "Do you think I could borrow your brother's clothes?"

"Sure, just ask him." She shrugged. "I'll go grab two towels." She left for a minute and came back with two white towels. She handed one to him and wrapped the other around herself.

"Troy! We're gonna be late!" Ryan screamed from inside the house.

"It's a sleepover!" Troy said and Sharpay laughed. He looked at himself and sighed. "Hey Ryan!"

"Yeah?"

"Could you lend me a pair of jeans and a T-shirt?" Troy asked.

"Sure!" Ryan answered without showing his face.

"Okay, I'll change there." He said. He put the towel aside for a second and took off his T-shirt.

"Don't you think it'd look weird if you showed up in a towel?" she asked him and sneezed.

"You should take a shower and put on some warm clothes." He said. "Turn around." He said. She rolled her eyes and turned around.

"What are your friends going to say when they see you with a towel wrapped around your waist?" she asked him.

"They won't question." Troy said. "Okay, you can look now."

Sharpay turned around to come face to face with a dripping wet, shirtless and pant less Troy, with a towel around his waist.

"You're going to Chad's house like this?" she asked, surprised. Not that she minded the view_ at all_.

Troy just shrugged. He smirked to himself when he saw the surprise on her face.

"You're seriously going naked?" she asked.

"I'm not naked!" he said. "I'm wearing my underwear!" She laughed.

"Hey Troy, I here's the jeans and T-shirt, what do you – whoa! Why are you guys wet?" Ryan asked, holding jeans and a blue polo shirt under his arm. He was really confused when he saw Troy and his sister wet.

"We had a little accident." Troy said. "That's kinda why I need the clothes."

"Okay, go change quickly! You're not leaving like this!" Ryan said, handing him the clothes.

"I'll be right back." He threw his wet clothes at Sharpay's face and ran into the house.

"OW!" she yelled after him. He looked over his shoulder and laughed.

Sharpay giggled and sighed, then she looked down and sneezed again.

"Shar, please go take a shower before you catch a cold." Ryan said.

Sharpay nodded and walked into the house. She ran up to her room, putting Troy's clothes on her bed, not even thinking about the fact that they were wet. She walked towards her walk in closet and chose an outfit to wear. Then she went back into the room and put the towel on her bed, next to Troy's clothes.

Troy walked out of the bathroom. He went to the main hall to see Ryan looking at his watch, tapping his foot on the floor. When he noticed Troy was there, he looked up at him and smiled.

"Let's go." He said, opening the front door.

"Oh, my clothes!" Troy said.

"Please tell my sister we're leaving!" Ryan said.

"Okay." Troy said, running upstairs to Sharpay's room. "Hey Pay, my clothes!" her door was closed, and he knew she'd probably be in the shower, so he didn't bother knocking. He turned the doorknob and entered, but he stopped when he saw she was there.

She was grabbing the towel from her bed, probably heading to the bathroom, wearing only pink panties. She let out a very loud scream when she saw he entered, and quickly covered herself with the towel.

Troy screamed too, and quickly shut his eyes tightly and turned around. He tried to recover from the shock. He tried to bring himself together to say he was sorry.

"Pay, I'm…" he sighed. "I'm sorry, I just… I was just… my clothes…" he said, not being able to say a phrase correctly.

"Here." she spoke, handing him the clothes.

"I'm sorry…" he said, eyes still shut. "Ryan told me to warn you that we're leaving."

"Thanks." She said. She was glad his eyes were closed, so he couldn't see her red cheeks.

"Bye." He spoke, before walking out the room, closing the door after himself, and finally opening his eyes. He took a few deep breaths. Now that image wouldn't leave his mind.

"Good. That'll help me not having dreams." He spoke to himself in a whisper. He sighed before walking downstairs and entering Ryan's car. The two headed off to Chad's house.

**. **

"Hi, sorry we're late." Ryan said. "Troy had a little accident in the pool." He spoke as the two sat down on the floor where his friends were.

Troy sat beside Gabriella and wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a peck on the lips.

"We're glad you guys are here, we were watching _Batman Begins_!" Gabriella said.

"What, Chad convinced you guys into watching it?" Troy asked.

"Kinda." Gabriella shrugged and smiled up at him. "What happened with you, you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"I'm alright." Troy shrugged and smiled at her. "Let's just enjoy, I'll be alright."

Gabriella smiled at him, giving him one more kiss on the lips before they turned their attention to the screen.

**.**

For the next few hours, Troy was trying very hard to focus on the movie. He had watched it over and over again, but this time he couldn't focus. He had seen her. He had seen more of her than he had ever seen. It wasn't like he had seen all of her, but it was enough. Now he was sure, he was falling for her.

He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes. He thought of her again, and this time in slow motion. The surprise on her face when he entered her room, and God, his thoughts went to her chest. Now, he had the confirmation of what he had been thinking ever since the incident with Tessa. Yes, her boobs were perfect! They were bigger than most girls' in school, but not so big that looked fake.

Not that he had seen too many women naked, but he could tell. Actually, she was the only girl he ever got close to seeing naked.

"Troy, are you okay?" Gabriella asked, concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm just having a small headache." He said, rubbing his temples, trying to distract himself before anything happened. "I'll be right back." He stood up and left quickly to the bathroom and closed the door after himself.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and took a few deep breaths. He then turned on the water and splashed it on his face, trying to calm his friend down _there_.

It didn't look like it was working. He looked down and groaned. He felt like it getting harder and more painful every second. He couldn't take Sharpay out of his mind. He knew things would be difficult now.

He sat on the toilet and thought. He thought, and the only solution he could find was… no, he couldn't do that. His girlfriend was out there in his best friend's living room, watching a movie, waiting for him to get back, he couldn't do this, specially thinking about another girl.

Well, he knew his attraction towards Gabriella was gone, and now he only saw her as a friend. He didn't like to do it, it felt like he was cheating on Gabriella. But if that would make his situation better, then…

**.**

The next morning, Troy woke up before everyone else. He looked around to check if everybody was sleeping and then checked his situation down there, and he was okay. He sighed in relief and went back to sleep. He remembered he didn't have any dream with Sharpay last night, and he was relieved.

About an hour later, everybody woke up. Chad and Zeke went to the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone, while the others got dressed and organized everything.

After Troy was done organizing his stuff, he sat down on the couch with a heavy sigh.

"Hey." Gabriella sat down beside him. He looked at her. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." He nodded. The two stood up and headed to the backyard. Everybody was surprised when they saw that, the couple didn't look happy.

Gabriella turned around to face Troy, a tired and worried expression on her face.

"What's going on with you?" she asked. He looked at her confused.

"What? I'm okay." He said.

"No, you're not." She said. "Troy, you're distracted, you're not as happy as before."

He sighed and looked down.

"And you left to go to the bathroom last night and came back like several minutes later." She said. "What is going on?"

"Gabi, I…"

"I want the truth, Troy." Gabriella said. "I'm your girlfriend."

Troy sighed, knowing he had to do it.

"Okay, listen." He said, looking at her in the eye. He saw in her eyes that she expected something bad. "The past weeks, I have been obsessing with this girl, and I tried to make myself stop, but I couldn't, I just couldn't. I knew you deserve better than that, so I tried." He said, looking at her in the eye. "But I couldn't. I was planning on telling you this, but I didn't want to do it when we're on our friend's sleepover."

"I understand." Gabriella nodded and looked at the ground, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Gabi." He said. "I really am. You probably think of me as a jerk right now."

"No, I don't." she looked back up at him and he was surprised. "You're honest with me. At least you didn't cheat on me."

"I didn't." he said honestly. "I wouldn't let myself look at you if I ever cheated on you."

"I know." She nodded. "I hope you go for it with this girl."

"Thanks." He said, pulling her into a hug. She cried lightly on his shoulder, but soon pulled away.

"So, who's her?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry, I can't say that." He said.

"Is it Taylor?" she asked.

"I'm sorry Gabi, I can't say." He said. He saw the disappointed look on her face. "I'm really sorry about it, that you had to find out like this."

"It's okay, I asked." Gabriella said.

"I think I should leave." He said and heard her sigh. "See you at school." He said and went back into the house. He grabbed his things and left, without saying a word to the others. Ryan was going to give him a ride back home, but Troy didn't even think about it at the moment.

He felt awful for breaking up with Gabriella, but he knew it had to be done. He couldn't be in a relationship if he didn't really love her.

Troy jogged home, and when he got home, he ran up to his room and threw himself on the bed. He didn't know what to do now, it was Saturday, he was free the whole day. He didn't feel like facing Chad or Ryan or the other guys, they'd all ask questions and he didn't want to answer.

And then, he thought of her. Yes, he wanted to hang out with her. He had to apologize to her, again, for yesterday. And he would take the chance and tell her about the breakup.

* * *

**Ta da! Here it is, sorry for the wait. And guess what! My dad gave me his computer so I'll be able to update more frequently now :D yay! I hope you guys liked this chapter!**


	7. The Confession

**WARNING: this chapter contains mature stuff! And I'd also like to add: please be nice, this is therst M-Rated chapter I've ever written! Anyway, enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter Seven – The Confession

Sharpay opened the door surprised to see Troy standing there. She looked at her watch then back up at her.

"What are you doing here, it's 9 AM, you're supposed to be back at Chad's for the whole day." She said. She was holding a plate with melted chocolate and a tiny red fruit.

"I left early." He said.

"Well, you're timing couldn't be better, Ryan just texted me, saying he would be back at 4, so I'm all alone for the day, I'm glad you can make me company." She smiled at him and he smiled back, but for a short time.

"I need to talk to you." He said, coming in. She closed the door after him and popped one of the tiny fruit into her mouth, chewing it happily. "What kind of strawberry is this?"

"The pepper kind." She said sarcastically.

"It's pepper?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah." She nodded, popping another one into her mouth. The peppers were the size of her thumb nail.

Troy watched with a weird look as she ate the peppers with chocolate.

"Stop staring at me that way, it's good!" she said. "Want to try one?" she held one tiny pepper for him, but he shook his head.

"No, thanks." He said. "I need to talk to you. Where's your mom?"

"Out with her friend for the day. What's up?" she asked as they headed to her room.

"I…" he sighed as they got in and she closed the door. "I broke up with Gabriella. That's kinda why I'm here."

"Really?" she turned around, surprised. "Sit down." The two sat down on her bed. She sat in front of him Indian style.

She was wearing blue shorts, a white tube top, and white socks. He could see her running shoes beside the door to her bathroom.

"You went out to run?" he asked.

"Yeah, an hour ago." She said. "Anyway, tell me about Gabriella."

"Okay." He sighed. "We were watching a movie, and I couldn't stop thinking about that girl, so I excused myself to go to the bathroom, saying I had a headache. She noticed I was distant though, and then this morning she asked me, saying she wanted the truth, and I told her." He said and looked at her.

"Wow, I'm sorry." She spoke.

"It's okay, I got my mind on someone else right now." He smiled.

"So, now can you tell me who's her? What does she look like?" Sharpay asked with a smile as she popped one more pepper into her mouth.

"Okay, I guess I can tell you." He said. She clapped her hands together as he turned to face her. "She has long, beautiful blonde hair, amazingly gorgeous brown eyes that hold more emotion than Gabriella's ever did." He told her, smiling.

"She must be pretty." She spoke.

"Oh, she's gorgeous." He nodded. "I don't think she knows that, though."

"Okay, tell me more, what's her name?" Sharpay asked.

"Well, she has kind of an unusual name, but I think it's beautiful." He said. "Well, you love her, you'll love everything about her." She said. He rolled his eyes. "When I'm around her I'm really happy, and I really hope that she likes me back, I really don't wanna ruin our friendship." He sighed.

"Wow, you just said 'really' like a hundred times!" Sharpay laughed while Troy rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"I also love her laugh, it's really cute. I love making her laugh, her eyes sparkle and she glows." he sighed. "She's sitting on this bed right now."

Sharpay looked at him, shock and surprise written all over her face. She could do nothing but stare at him for a few seconds, taking in his last sentence.

"What? Me?" she asked and he nodded with a smile. She stood up and placed her plate on her bedside table. "As in, me? _Me_?" she asked. She couldn't believe this. He giggled and nodded again. "As in Sharpay Evans, the Ice Queen of East High, who has no heart?"

"No, as in Sharpay Evans, an amazing human being, who's nothing like the Ice Queen at school. As in the girl who's everything I just said." He said. She looked even more surprised. "The girl is you."

"I… I…" she said, trying to put words together. Her heart was beating too fast for her to hear anything.

"I'd like you to know that if I don't stand a chance, I really want us to remain friends." He said. She looked up at him.

"No!" she said, and he looked a bit hurt. "You do stand a chance! You're the only one who does!" she spoke.

"I do?" he asked.

"Yeah." She said, smiling at him. "I like you too, I'm in love with you too."

He looked into her eyes, and saw happiness. Her eyes were shining brightly like never before, and she looked more beautiful than ever, even though she wasn't wearing any makeup.

He leaned in a placed a soft kiss on her lips. He ran his tongue against her lips, and she immediately parted them, letting his tongue in. Their tongues fought for dominance for a long time. Her mouth tasted spicy and sweet from the pepper and it tasted even more amazing with the chocolate. It was a weird combination, but he had to admit that it was very good.

And for a girl who had never had a real kiss, she was an amazing kisser.

He pulled her even closer to him, deepening the kiss as he did so. The two were kissing passionately and they didn't want to pull apart. It felt like there were fireworks exploding inside their mouths, the two had waited so long for this, and they never thought it would be _this_ good.

She pulled him with her as she slowly laid down on her bed, him on top of her as he kissed her. He loved the taste in her mouth, he didn't want his lips to live hers.

She began unbuttoning his shirt slowly as she continued kissing him. They were lucky they didn't have to pull apart for her to take his shirt off. He trailed the kiss down her jaw line, then down her neck. She wrapped her hands around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair.

He continued kissing her neck softly, but he had to break the contact to take her top off. He kissed her lips again and she kissed him back, passionately.

Both of them had never done anything like that before. All Troy did was make out with Gabriella, but he never actually took her shirt off. They didn't talk about it, but it was pretty obvious that she wasn't ready to have sex with him. And Sharpay, well, she never had a boyfriend, she never had a real kiss. Until now.

Troy took off her shorts and left her in her underwear, while she was working on removing his jeans. He helped her kicking off his jeans then he threw it across the room. He kissed her neck as she closed her eyes, moaning softly under him.

He had to pull apart from her to ask something. He hated himself for doing that, but he had to.

"Before we go any further, are you sure you want this?" he asked. She looked up at him.

"Yeah." She said, out of breath. "I want you."

He kissed her again, not wanting to waste any time. Not that he didn't have time, she told him she'd be alone for the whole day. And it was Saturday.

He moved his hands to her back and unhooked her bra, throwing it across the room, to join his jeans. He trailed the kisses down her neck as he grabbed her breasts with both hands, squeezing them, making her moan a little louder this time. He grew more excited.

He kissed her lips again and slowly took off her pink panties, leaving her completely naked under him. He trailed his kisses down her jaw line, neck and then moved down to her chest. He took one of her breast into his mouth, flicking her hard nipple with his tongue while he massaged the other breast with his other hand.

She was going crazy under him, she almost didn't have the strength to do anything but moan, but somehow she managed to take off his boxers.

He was kissing her neck, sucking on it, making sure he left a very visible hickey. He then moved his lips next to her ear as he breathed hard.

"I had dreams of you, you know…" he whispered. She smiled with eyes closed as she enjoyed him massaging her breasts.

"Oh, did you?" she whispered back, her voice full of lust.

"Yeah." He said. "I dreamed about this moment."

"Was it good?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair.

"Not as good as now." He said. She giggled.

He then continued sucking on her neck and massaging her breasts, getting ready for what was coming next. He eased himself into her, knowing it was her first time. He heard her gasp under him as he filled her.

"Oh God." Sharpay exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" he looked down at her. He didn't see any sign of hurt in her face.

"Hell yeah!" she said.

He started moving inside her. Slow at first, but then he picked up the pace, and their moans got louder and louder. Sharpay dig her nails into his back as she started screaming louder.

She arched her back and screamed his name in pleasure as he moved inside her, fast and hard. There was sweat forming on their foreheads, and Troy shut his eyes hard, never having tasted something so good in his entire teenage life.

Sharpay had heard about it, talked about it, and even read about it, but she didn't think sex would feel _this_ amazing and good. She knew there was a huge possibility she'd become addicted to it, especially if Troy was the one she would be having sex with.

Troy tried to control himself, make himself last a little longer. He wanted her to get there first, but it was his first time too, he knew he wouldn't last so much longer. She was screaming his name under him, and he was screaming hers.

Sharpay screamed his name at the top of her lungs as she came, Troy following right after her, screaming her name also. He collapsed on top of her as they both breathed heavily.

Troy moved to her side and she rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes as he stroked her hair, his eyes also closed.

"That was amazing." She said.

"It really was." He said. They both sighed as they started falling asleep. It was still 9 AM, and the two had woken up early.

**.**

Sharpay opened her eyes and looked at her alarm clock on her bedside table. It said 11:30, it was almost time for lunch. She was starting to get hungry after going running and having sex. She giggled as she thought of that and turned to Troy. She poked his muscular chest.

"Troy?" she asked. He didn't move a muscle, so she just shrugged and stood up. She went to her walk-in closet, picked up a dress and clean underwear and went to her bathroom to take a shower.

After she was done, she came out of the bathroom to find Troy rubbing his eyes. He then opened them and saw her standing there and smiled at her.

"Good morning." She said with a smile.

"Good morning." He said and stretched his arms with a long yawn.

"Do you want to eat something?" she asked.

"I don't know." He yawned again. "Hey, wanna go out for lunch?"

"Out?" she asked. He nodded. "Sure." She smiled.

"Okay, just let me get dressed." He said.

"Alright, I'll just fix my hair." She turned around and entered the bathroom again. She pulled her hair into a side ponytail to cover the hickey Troy had given her, and then applied some makeup. She liked to look natural, but she also liked to look beautiful.

When she was ready, she went back to her room to see Troy also ready. He smiled at her and then the two went downstairs. Sharpay grabbed her purse and they headed out of the house.

They went on Sharpay's other car, a silver BMW, she let Troy drive. He said he wanted to take her to one specific restaurant.

When they got there, it was beautiful, not expensive and too luxurious, but beautiful anyways. They sat down on a table and ordered. They were talking about everything, the two couldn't wipe their smiles off their faces, but that wasn't a problem.

"Pay?" he asked as he grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Yes?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" he asked her. She smiled widely.

"Of course I will!" she said. "But…" she trailed off.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You know, maybe we should keep this a secret for a few weeks. I mean, the school doesn't even know you broke up with Gabriella, and you show up on Monday holding hands with the Ice Queen?" she said. "I'm not saying we'll keep that a secret forever, I'm just saying we should give the school a few days to adjust to the breakup."

"I agree with you." He nodded. "I'd come off as a jerk, they would think I was cheating on Gabriella with you."

"And that I'm just going to play with you." Sharpay sighed. "But anyways, we should give them hints that something's going on. I'll start throwing out my mask."

"You will?" Troy asked, surprised.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I'm tired of being mean and having no friends." Troy smiled.

"It'll be good for you." He said.

"I know." She nodded with a smile.

* * *

**A/N: there it is! I know this pribably wasn't my best job, like I said, this was my first M-Rated chapter, so please be nice. There will be more like this to come :) I hope you liked it!**


	8. The News

Chapter Eight – The News

Going to school on Monday was as hard as Troy predicted. People gave him surprised and shocked looks as he passed by and his friends were a bit distant. Gabriella only talked to Taylor and Kelsi. Chad still talked to him, but not as much as before, and unlike Troy had expected, Gabriella's friends didn't think he was a jerk, they just understood him.

Gabriella wasn't broken, or if she was she didn't let it show. She was still laughing and smiling, but now she sat back at her table with the girls, while the jocks sat at their table.

Troy also noticed Ryan and Gabriella were spending a lot of time together, and she was always smiling when he was around. He seemed to be comforting her all the time, and she always looked happy.

And the hardest thing he had to do was walk past Sharpay, the girl he loved, like he barely knew her, like he almost hated her. All he wanted to do every time he saw her was hug her and kiss those lips. When nobody was watching, they'd smile at each other, but they didn't talk.

At lunch, on Thursday, Troy was sitting with his basketball teammates, eating his food normally. Now, it felt like nothing had changed, the students did their normal stuff, and they didn't care that much about Troy and Gabriella breaking up. All they wanted now was to find out who was the girl that Troy was in love with.

Ryan approached them and sat down, placing his tray on the table, then he sighed.

"What's up, Drama Boy?" Chad asked. Ryan hadn't really come to them since Monday, but now that he had, they all knew something was wrong. "Weren't you going to sit with Drama Girl?"

"I'm worried about my sister." He said.

"What's wrong with her?" Troy tried his best to hide the concern in his voice. It sounded like he had done a very good job.

"She's in the girls' restroom crying. She didn't tell me the reason, she didn't come out." He said. "I don't know what happened."

Troy nodded and thought. He didn't care anymore what people thought, he just excused himself and left. He was lucky enough to find Sharpay in the second girls' restroom he looked, and he walked in. He found her sitting on the ground, head in hands, sobbing loudly.

"Pay, what's wrong?" he quickly pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. She cried on his shoulder. "Why are you crying?"

"Because of everything." She answered. "It's been 20 months my dad's away, I miss him! I'm tired of being the school's cold hearted girl. And the most important thing;" she looked up at him. "I'm tired of pretending I don't care about you."

"Me too." He nodded. "I'm sick of it, it kills me."

"I don't wanna pretend anymore, I love you! I wanna show this to people!" she said and hugged him tighter.

"I love you too, I want people to know too." He said, stroking her blonde hair softly.

"When will we be able to let it show?" she asked.

"I want it to be as soon as possible, I don't wanna wait anymore." Troy said.

"Me neither." Sharpay said. Her sobs had calmed down, and she had stopped crying now. "I'm your girlfriend, I want to act like it!"

"So I say we walk out of this restroom and we won't care about what this stupid, close minded people think." He said, grabbing her face with his hands and looking into her eyes. "What do you say?"

"I like it." She smiled and he gave her a peck on the lips. "Just let me fix my makeup."

Troy nodded.

"I'll be waiting outside for you." He said. She nodded with a smile and he left. Troy didn't have to wait too long, but when Sharpay came out, it looked like she hadn't been crying at all. Troy smiled at her and grabbed her hand, then the two headed to the cafeteria.

As soon as they walked in, people turned to look at them. A lot of them gasped, while others just ignored. The two sat on Sharpay's usual table. Troy had to go to his table to pick up his tray, then he rejoined Sharpay. He sat down beside her and smiled at her.

People thought the two were just friends, so they soon stopped staring. They had never spent time together in school, and that time they actually did spend together during lunch was enough for both of them to get through the rest of the day. Sharpay wasn't cold anymore, and she smiled more often. People thought it was weird, but they actually liked her like this.

**. **

On Friday, the two spoke again before class begun. Sharpay wasn't as ready as she thought she was to show the whole school she loved Troy. Actually, she didn't know exactly how she felt about that, and Troy knew that.

They shared a few classes together, then it was lunch. They spent lunch together, like the previous day, and then they headed to their classes.

Troy was tired of pretending, he just wanted the whole world to know he was crazy about Sharpay. So the when the bell rang, he quickly stood up from his chair and looked for the blonde through the crowd. People were calling him, but he didn't care, he didn't hear them. Once he spotted his girlfriend, he pushed people out of his way, not caring about what they said after he passed by them.

Once he caught up with her, Troy grabbed Sharpay by the wrist and she looked up at him confused. He just smiled and kissed her glossy lips passionately. She quickly relaxed and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck, melting into the kiss. He pressed up her against the lockers and they continued kissing, too into each other to hear the other students in the hallway gasp in shock as they watched the scene.

When Troy finally pulled back, he looked deep into Sharpay's eyes as he breathed heavily and smiled.

"I love you, Pay, and I'm not afraid to show it." He said.

"I love you too." She smiled up at him and gave him a peck on the lips. "Wanna go home with me after school? We have to come back here for the Talent Show anyways."

"Sure." He nodded and gave her a kiss. Then the two grabbed their things and headed to the parking lot, ignoring the looks they got from a very big number of students. It was the first time Sharpay actually walked through those halls happy, being her real self, confident and not caring about what others thought.

* * *

**Here it is, sorry for the long wait, things have been pretty busy and crazy, I'm having a crisis here, I'm lucky my therapist's been helping me a lot. I hope you like it, your reviews mean a lot to me.**


	9. The Talent Show

Chapter Nine – The Talent Show

Troy went home with Sharpay, watched her get ready, then they left with Darby and Ryan to school again. Ryan wasn't going to do anything for the show, he was just going to watch it and support his sister.

Darby talked to Troy while Sharpay was in the restroom, saying that Vance was there in school, and that he'd surprise Sharpay after she sang, she said Ms. Darbus agreed to that and Mr. Matsui did too. She said he told them that this was Troy's idea, and Troy felt really happy. He really wanted to see Sharpay happy.

There were people filming both sides of the stage, and some even filming the audience. There were photographers also, and one journalist was interviewing Ms. Darbus.

A lot of students sang, played instruments and even told jokes, and they were all very talented. Troy really liked it when he watched Gabriella sing, that song really fit her, she had a really great voice, and it was good for everybody to see her singing without Troy by her side, confident.

Sharpay was probably one of the last students, and when Ms. Darbus announced it was her, the dark red curtains opened to show Sharpay sitting on a tall chair, holding her pink guitar. She looked beautiful, and very happy. She smiled at her family and at Troy.

"I want to dedicate this song to my father, who's been away in Iraq for 20 months now." She spoke. "I'd also like to dedicate this to all the military families out there." She said, then looked down at her guitar and began playing.

"_Sunrise and I lifted my head _  
_Then I smiled at your picture _  
_Sitting next to my bed _  
_Sunset and you're feeling okay _  
_'Cause you smile at the letter _  
_That I sent you today and I _  
_Can't wait till I see you again and _  
_We both say remember when _  
_The band played on the 4th of July _  
_And you held me on your shoulders _  
_Way up high_"

She sang with a smile on her face as she stared at the crowd. It was very simple, and different than anything she had ever done in school. She barely moved on her chair, and there were no fireworks, no glitter and no dancing.

"_You're still there for me _  
_Wherever there might be _  
_And if an ocean lies between us _  
_I'll send a message across the sea _  
_That you can sleep tonight _  
_Knowing it's alright _  
_I believe that you will listen to my song _  
_You're with me _  
_You've been here all along _  
_You've been here all along _

_Back then you walked me to school _  
_Told me to be careful _  
_And to follow the rules _  
_Fast forward and you taught me to drive _  
_You gave me the keys and we went for a ride and I _  
_Can't wait till I see you again and _  
_We both say remember when _  
_I'm holding on to moments like that _  
_And I know that you're coming back_"

She was still smiling, but there were a few tears forming in her eyes. She loved her father more than anything in the world and she wanted to let everyone know. She wanted him to be listening to her right now, but unfortunately he couldn't.

"_You're still there for me _  
_Wherever that might be _  
_And if an ocean lies between us _  
_I'll send a message across the sea _  
_That you can sleep tonight _  
_Knowing it is alright _  
_I believe that you will listen to my song _  
_You're with me _  
_You've been here all along _  
_Yeah _

_All along the way _  
_I keep you In my heart and in my prayers _  
_You'll always be the one _  
_Who cares the most _  
_Counting down the days I see you running up _  
_To say 'I missed you' _  
_'I missed you' _

_You're still there for me _  
_Wherever there might be _  
_And if an ocean lies between us _  
_I'll send a message across the sea _  
_That you can sleep tonight_  
_ Knowing it is alright _  
_I believe that you will listen to my song _  
_You're still there for me _  
_Wherever there might be _  
_And if an ocean lies between us _  
_I'll send a message across the sea _  
_That you can sleep tonight _  
_Knowing it is alright _  
_I believe that you will listen to my song _  
_You're with me _  
_'Cause your with me _  
_You've been here all along _  
_You've been here all along_  
_ Yeah_"

She finished and the crowd applauded like crazy. They even gave her a standing ovation, she sang amazingly, like she never did before. She smiled at the crowd, almost standing up to go backstage, when Ms. Darbus' voice interrupted her.

"Congratulations Ms. Evans!" she said. "We really appreciate you singing that song to your father, I hope he gets home soon."

At that exact moment, the song 'Something Real' by Chase Holfelder started playing and Vance Evans came from behind the black curtains behind Sharpay, wearing his uniform.

She turned around, confused, but her eyes instantly filled with tears. She dropped her guitar on the floor ran towards her father and wrapped her arms around him, very tight. He picked her up and hugged her tightly too as he heard her screaming as if she was getting killed.

People started applauding again, as others took pictures. Troy had the biggest smile of his smile across his face as he applauded. He felt very happy for his girlfriend.

"I missed you, princess." Vance said as he stroked his daughter's hair.

"I missed you too, Daddy." Sharpay sobbed. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too." Vance said and put her down. She pulled apart to look at him, then hugged him again, giggling. "I'd like to say, after serving 25 years, I'm finally retiring."

Sharpay pulled apart and looked at him with eyes wide.

"Really?!"

"Yes." He nodded. Sharpay cried harder and hugged him again.

"Well," Ms. Darbus spoke as she got near the two. "thank you, Mr. Evans, for your service to our country."

Vance nodded as the audience applauded one more time. Vance and Sharpay walked out of the stage and left the auditorium by the side doors.

"I missed you so much, Daddy, I can't believe you're here." Sharpay said, wiping her tears away. Vance chuckled.

"I am, and I'm here to stay." Vance smiled and kissed her forehead. "You know, this was your friend's idea." He smiled and she looked up at him in disbelief.

"Troy thought of that?" she asked.

"Yeah." Vance nodded.

"I can't believe it." Sharpay said, wiping her tears away. "Hey Daddy?"

"Yes, princess?" he asked as he stroked her hair.

"Can Troy have dinner with us tomorrow night?" Sharpay asked with a smile. "I wanted him to meet you."

"Sure, princess." Vance smiled.

"I'm just so happy you're home." Sharpay smiled and hugged him again and he hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, princess." He said.

**. **

Troy rang the doorbell and waited a few minutes. He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark blue jeans and black All Stars. He slid his hands into his pockets and looked around a bit, wondering what was taking so long to answer the door.

When the door finally opened, he was attacked by a very excited Sharpay, who kissed him all over the face while she squeaked happily. Troy giggled when she finally stepped back and smiled at him.

"You came!" he didn't know if he wanted to laugh at her or roll his eyes. Why wouldn't he come? "Forget my comment, come on in!" she took him by the hand and practically dragged him inside, giggling. She then closed the door after him and giggled, hugging him once again.

"What happened to you?" Troy asked, giggling. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I'm happy Daddy's back!" she said. Troy smiled at her.

"I'm happy you're happy." He said, giving her a peck on the lips.

"Come on, already!" she grabbed his hand and took him to the living room, to find her father knelt on the ground, looking through the couch cushions. He put his hand between them and groaned each time he didn't find what he wanted. Then he turned to the other end of the couch and removed the cushions.

"Hmm, Daddy?" Sharpay called, obviously confused.

"Yeah?" Vance looked at her, then realized his guest had come. He stood up from the ground, putting the cushions back into place. "Hi, sorry about that, the couch swallowed the remote." He said annoyed, walking towards Sharpay and Troy. He subtly glanced down at their intertwined hands, but looked at his daughter's face, giving her a smile, then looked at the boy beside her and shook his hand. "Hello Troy, I'm Vance Evans. I'm glad we can finally meet." He smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Evans." Troy smiled. "And thank you for your service to our country."

"Thank you, you can call me Vance." Vance smiled.

"Umm, Daddy?" Sharpay called. Vance looked down at her. "Troy's also my boyfriend."

"Really?" Vance asked. Sharpay and Troy nodded. He smiled at the two, then turned to Troy. "You take very good care of my daughter."

"I'll take excellent care of your daughter." Troy said.

"And don't hurt her." Vance said, serious.

"Not a chance." Troy said, also serious.

"Daddy, where's Mother and Ryan?" Sharpay asked.

"They're out, they'll be back any minute." Vance said. "Dinner will be ready shortly, make yourself comfortable, Troy."

"Thank you, Mr. Evans." Troy smiled.

"Come on Troy, let's go upstairs!" Sharpay said, about to drag Troy up the staircase, when her father stopped them.

"Don't take too long, and keep your door opened." He lifted an eyebrow at the two teens. Sharpay giggled and turned around, going upstairs.

When they got there, Troy got in first, looking around her room. It looked organized, and normal. He couldn't help but hear the sound of the door closing, and he instantly turned around, to find his girlfriend putting some magazines on her desk quietly. He just stared at her, waiting to see if she'd realize it on her own.

"Umm, Pay?" he called. She looked up at him.

"Oh the door!" she said, opening the door while Troy giggled. He sat down on her bed.

"Does your brother know about you and me?" Troy asked.

"Well, we didn't hang out as much as I'd like since we got together, but I doubt he doesn't know by now." Sharpay said, staring into space as she spoke. She walked towards him and sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on the lips.

Troy was still amazed by her kissing skills. He was her first boyfriend, her first real kiss, and she was an amazing kisser. He kinda missed the taste of pepper and chocolate in her mouth, though.

"Hey, did you notice how my brother and Gabriella have been spending a considerate amount of time together since you guys broke up?" Sharpay asked when they finally pulled apart.

"No." Troy said. "Do you think it can mean something?"

"I don't know, but Ryan's happier than before." Sharpay shrugged.

"If they ever start something, I'll be happy for both."

Troy shrugged, without saying anything. He then started stroking her hair, playing with her long blond locks. He really loved her hair, it was so beautiful and shiny. His eyes seemed to light up everytime he saw her, and the darkness in his eyes seemed to disappear when she was around. He was a sweeter guy, and he smiled at the time.

"What happened to your tiny strawberry-pepper?" he asked, making her giggle.

"I haven't eaten them in a while. Why, do you want some?" She asked.

"No, I like how they taste in your mouth." He said.

"I'll keep that in mind." She kissed him again, this time interrupted shortly afterwards.

"Shar!" it was Ryan calling from downstairs, meaning he and his mother were back from wherever they had gone off to. Sharpay groaned and pulled apart. She sighed, but smiled at Troy anyways, moving out of his lap, grabbing his hand.

"Let's go?" she asked him.

"Yeah." Troy nodded and the two made their way downstairs. Troy greeted Darby with a smile and Ryan with a simple 'hey' and a wave.

The five went to the dining room and sat down to eat.

Dinner was very good, and conversations flew on the table. It wasn't hard to talk or start a conversation with neither of the Evans, they were all very kind and easy to talk to.

Darby and Vance were happy their daughter had found a boyfriend who was such a sweet, caring guy. They even talked about the surprise in the Talent Show and it had been Troy's idea.

Ryan seemed to be a little distant, though, like he wasn't even paying attention to what was going on. Sharpay noticed that, and got worried about her twin, she thought maybe something serious happened to him these days. They weren't talking as much as they used to, or as much as they'd like, because they were both very busy. Ryan started hanging out with Gabriella quite a lot, while Sharpay had Troy. So their brother/sister bonding time was almost forgotten, however, something in the back of Sharpay's mind was telling her that something was up with her twin brother. She just couldn't figure out what, but she'd talk to him later.


End file.
